Five French tourists killed in Peru plane crash: police

Five French tourists were killed in Peru Wednesday when their plane crashed while flying over the famous Nazca Lines, pre-Inca depictions of animals that are best seen from the sky.

LIMA, April 9, 2008 - Five French tourists were killed in Peru Wednesday when their plane crashed while flying over the famous Nazca Lines, pre-Inca depictions of animals that are best seen from the sky, police said. The small plane crashed following an apparent mechanical failure not farfrom the mysterious, 2,500-year-old lines, around 450 kilometers (280 miles)south of Lima, highway police said. Firefighters said the Cessna 206, owned by the Aeroica firm, was completelydestroyed in the crash, although the Peruvian pilot survived and washospitalized in Nazca. The dead tourists were named as: Yollande Paimparay, born in 1946, and herhusband Robert, born in 1942; Christine Maze, born in 1945; Marie-FranceLethuillier, born in 1949; and Anne-Marie Soudant de Pelchin, born in 1947. The plane had apparently tried to turn around to land and crashed afterhitting a power line, according to the local RPP radio. It was the second plane incident in as many weeks in the same location. Another small plane, also carrying five French tourists, made an emergencylanding on the Panamerican highway in March. No one was injured, and technicalproblems were blamed. The Nazca Lines were drawn by the Paracas civilization in a desert regionof southern Peru. The markings can be fully appreciated only from the air,where intricate images of monkeys, birds and reptiles can be seen.